Download Appendix IX. Historical context

Appendix IX. Historical context
245
Historical Context: Indians, Forests, and the United
States
The Way Forward Begins in the Trail Behind
Of special interest to this investigation, have been the implications of historic events for Indian forestry programs
today. For instance, the development of forest regulations for Indian reservations has historically reflected the
evolving social attitudes and pressures for land and resources that have driven timber policy in the United States,
particularly for public forestlands. As example, throughout the nineteenth century, widespread illegal harvest of
timber occurred on Indian and public domain lands with little concern for ownership or fear of accountability. The
harvested lands were left to burn or re-establish as they might. Hence the term “cut and run.”
It was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that public concerns about sustainability began to manifest in
public policy. It was not until 75 years later that tribes could begin to assert management control over their own
timberlands. More recently, in the Northeast and Midwest, IFMAT observed tribes working to restore pine, ash, and
birch to forests simplified to aspen 150 years ago. In the Inland West, the contrast between forests, thinned and
underburned, on Indian lands and forests left untended and overstocked on the federal estate is stark.
The “Transformation” element of the “FIT” paradigm is premised upon acknowledgement that sustainability is a
direction, not a destination. The above-observed examples of adaptive management found on Indian forests reflect
transformation empowered by policies of self-determination and self-governance that make possible the unique
integration of traditional knowledge with forest science that guides contemporary Indian stewardship. Given the
cascade of challenges in a resource-constrained world and the policy complexities unique to Indian country, a review
of some historical milestones could be helpful.
A thorough history of Indian peoples and forested ecosystems in the United States is considerably beyond the scope
and resources of this inquiry. However, from review of available literature, we have endeavored to provide
abbreviated chronicle in the hope that contemporary issues might be given historical context and informed dialogue
might better proceed. We identify twelve historical “eras” as delineated by periodic twists and turns in Indian policy
and standing. These eras, often just several decades in duration, mark a rapid progression of change, rarely sought,
that has challenged the sustainability of Indian cultures and American forest ecosystems. We find that Indians and
American forests are and always have been inseparable and that the United States has moral and legal obligations to
both.
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CHRONOLOGY
1 Pre-Contact
Before 1500
11,000 BCE
Paleo Indians: Southwest and Northwest.
5,000 BCE
Maize cultivation in Mexico.
3,000 BCE
Aleut and Inuit peoples in Alaska.
3,000 BCE
Coastal communities establish throughout California and the Pacific Northwest.
1,500 BCE
Maize cultivation in southwestern and eastern North America.
1,000 BCE
“Three sisters” (maize, squash, and beans) cultivation supports centralized societies
with coordinated trade and religion. Corn grown throughout most of North America
wherever climate will allow.
500 BCE
Hohokam irrigation system in Arizona.
500BCE –
Anasazi, Hohokam, and Mogollan cultures flourish in the Southwest; Cahokia and
Adena societies in Midwest and Southeast; Hopewell culture in areas of eastern
North America and the Plains. Trade networks are established.
1200 CE
1200-1300
Severe drought disrupts Native societies in the Midwest, Plains and Southwest.
1450
Iroquois League and Great Law of Peace (Gayanashagowa).
1500
4-18 million Indian peoples, speaking more than 400 languages, live in what will
become the United States.
2 Discovery
1500-1600
1492
Columbus arrives in the Caribbean.
1493
Pope Alexander VI grants the right to conquer newly found lands to Spain, thus
establishing the Discovery Doctrine for the new world.
1497
Cabot makes landing in Newfoundland.
1519
Cortez Conquers the Aztec.
1500
Apaches and Navajos arrive in Southwest.
1532
Franciscus de Victoria advises King of Spain that aboriginal peoples have rights.
1537
Pope Paul III forbids slavery of indigenous peoples.
1500-1600
Europeans explore, conquer, and settle in North America: Spanish – Southeast,
Southwest, California, and Mexico, British - Mideast and Northeast, French Northeast and Canada.
1500-1600
Spain establishes principles of Indian title and consent requirement that influence
international law through the 18th century. Indians are recognized as sovereign
powers capable of making treaties.
1500-1600
Spanish bring horses to the Southwest.
1500-1600
Epidemic depopulation throughout North America some tribes become extinct.
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1550-1600
Surviving remnants of tribes form confederacies such as the Creek, Chickasaw,
Cherokee, and Catawba.
1580 - 1600
Fur trade is established in the Northeast and Great Lakes with French and Dutch.
3 Colonial Treaties
1607
1616-19
1600-1776
Jamestown (Virginia) is established.
Epidemic depopulation of coastal Natives in New England.
1620
Pilgrims arrive Plymouth Bay (Massachusetts) establish settlement on site of
abandoned Indian village.
1626
Plymouth Colony passes ordinance to regulate timber cutting.
1633-34
Small pox epidemic throughout the Northeast.
1636
Pequot are defeated in Southern New England.
1646
Powatan and allies are defeated in Virginia.
1648-57
Iroquois Five Nations wage Beaver Wars against Hurons and allies in eastern Great
Lakes region.
1647
Apalachees revolt in Florida.
1655
Harvard Indian College provides colonial higher education to Massachusetts Natives
until closed 40 years later in 1695.
1656
Timucuas rebel against Spanish in Florida.
1675-76
King Philip’s War in southern New England. Bacon’s rebellion in Virginia.
1677
First Covenant Chain treaties between Five Nations Iroquois and English colonies.
1680
Pushed west by Europeans, Ojibwe (Chippewa) arrive in Great Lakes area.
1680s
New England sawmills produce lumber exports for Europe
1680-92
1689-1713
1690s
1696-1700
Pueblo revolt against Spanish in New Mexico.
Eastern Native Americans are drawn into European War of Augsburg and War of
Spanish Succession.
English and French establish trade with Native Peoples of the northern Plains.
Smallpox epidemic from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi Valley.
1700
French establish trade with Caddos on Red River.
1701
Iroquois Grand Settlement with England and France.
1711-13
Tuscarora War in North Carolina.
1712-50
Mesquaki Wars with New France and Native allies.
1715-16
Yamasee War in South Carolina.
1722
1722-27
Tuscaroras become sixth nation in Iroquois Confederacy.
Anglo-Abenaki wars in northern New England.
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1729-30
Natchez uprising in French Louisiana.
1730
Eastern Shoshones introduce horses in the northern Plains
1738
French and Indian trade is established on upper Missouri River.
1746-50
Choctaw civil war.
1750-60s
Russian traders enslave Aleuts in Aleutian Islands.
1754-61
Eastern tribes drawn into Anglo-French War.
1763
French withdraw from North America. Royal British Proclamation reserving to the
Crown the right to extinguish Indian title and establish a boundary line between
Indians and colonists.
1769
Franciscans establish mission system in California.
4 Treaties of Alliance
1775-1781
1775-83
1777
1780-82
1776-1800
Revolutionary War.
Eastern Tribes drawn into American Revolution.
North Carolina prohibits unlawful firing of the woods.
Small pox epidemic spreads throughout western North America.
1778
Treaty of Fort Pitt with Lenape (Delaware) Indians. The first treaty between the
United States and an Indian Tribe. Friendship and respect for separate territories.
1779
Treaty with the Wyandots is the first treaty to reserve tribal hunting rights within the
area ceded to the U.S.
1781
Articles of Confederation give Congress exclusive right to regulate Indian Affairs.
1781
Quechans evict Spanish from Colorado River.
1783
Treaty of Paris grants independence to United States without providing for affected
Indian allies of Britain.
1785-95
Northwest Indian Wars.
1785
Treaty with Wyandot, Delaware, Ottawa and Chippewa. Tribes retain hunting rights
on ceded lands.
1785-86
Hopewell Treaties with Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw create peace agreement and
establish tribal/US boundaries.
1786
Peace treaty between New Mexico and western Comanche.
1787
Northwest Ordinance creates the Northwest Territories, first organized territory of
the United States, northwest of the Ohio River. First formal acknowledgement by the
United States of Indian sovereignty. “The utmost good faith” shall be shown to the
Indians; their property “shall never be taken from them without their consent”; and
“they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by
the Congress.”
1787
“Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God.” Thomas Jefferson
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1789
U.S. Constitution, several clauses, especially Commerce and Treaty Clauses, relate
the importance and place of American Indians separate but equal to the states of the
new republic. Only the federal government has authority to purchase lands or
negotiate treaties with Indians.
1789
Congress establishes a Department of War with responsibility over Indian affairs, sets
aside money to negotiate Indian treaties, and appoints federal commissioners to
negotiate treaties with tribes.
1790
Trade and Intercourse Act establishes exclusive federal jurisdiction over Indian title
and commerce with Indians. Trade and Intercourse Acts (1790, 1793, 1796, 1799,
1802, and 1834) are passed by Congress establishing the primacy of trade as the
means with which to deal with Indian affairs.
1790
First US census estimates population at 4 million people. The US census will not begin
to include Indians until 1860.
1790s
New England exports 36 MMBF of pine lumber and 300 ship masts annually.
1794
Jay Treaty. Indians along the United States-Canada border can freely cross.
1795
Treaty of Greenville demarcates lands to be retained by Lake States tribes.
1799
Federal Timber Purchasers Act appropriates $200,000 to buy timber and timberland
for naval reserves.
1799
Russian-American Company monopolizes fur trade in Alaska.
1800
Code of Handsome Lake (Gaihwi:io) and Longhouse religion emerge among Senecas.
5
Treaties of Cession
1800-1830
1800’s
Wood products are the major export from New England to Europe.
1803
Louisiana Purchase. U.S. purchases 828,000 sq miles of land for $15 million from
France, doubling the size of the United States and bringing Native inhabitants under
U.S. rule and protection. “Manifest Destiny” is philosophy of U.S. expansion.
1804-06
Lewis and Clark Expedition to US Northwest.
1806
Congress creates Superintendent of Indian Trade in the War Dept.
1807
American Fur Company establishes trade in the northern Rockies.
1805-1813
1812
1812-15
Tecumseh Wars. Tecumseh killed at the Battle of the Thames. The opportunity for an
Independent Indian State in the Midwest is lost.
General Land Office is created in the Treasury Dept. to dispose of western lands.
The War of 1812 between Britain and United States. With withdrawal of the British,
treaty negotiations between tribes and US became increasingly one-sided.
1814
Creek War in Alabama.
1818
Seminole Wars in Florida.
1818
Dine Ana’aii settle near Zunis and Acomas in New Mexico.
1819
U.S. acquires Florida (40 million acres) in Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain.
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1819
Civilization Fund Act. Congress authorized the President to institute education
programs for Indians, including instruction in agriculture as well as reading, writing,
and arithmetic.
1820
Mexico becomes independent; Anglos begin colonization of East Texas.
1821
Sequoya formulates Cherokee syllabary system of writing the Cherokee language.
1823
Johnson v. McIntosh, Chief Justice John Marshall recognizes Indian title, but the United
States, like its predecessor Britain in the 1763 Royal Proclamation, holds the fee in
tribal lands through the “Doctrine of Discovery.” Native Americans merely have a “right
of occupancy” that the federal government can extinguish.
1823
Monroe Doctrine forbids establishment by European countries of new colonies in the
American hemisphere.
1824
Office of Indian Affairs established by the Secretary of War to administer funds for
the “civilization” of Indians, and to decide upon claims arising between Native
Americans and whites.
1824
Hudson Bay Company begins trade with Tlingits.
1824
Chumash revolt in southern California.
1825
Treaty of Prairie du Chien, identifies borders between the resident tribes in what is
to become Wisconsin.
1827
Ho-Chunk uprising in Wisconsin.
1827
Cherokees adopt a written constitution and publish their own newspaper.
1828
Andrew Jackson elected President.
1828-29
Yokut uprising in California.
6 Removal and Relocation
1830-33
1830
1830-1850
Epidemics of European diseases in California and Oregon Territory.
Indian Removal Act passed by Congress legalizes the removal of all Indians east of
Mississippi River to lands west of the river, thus opening up former Indian lands along
the East Coast for white colonization. 19 tribes are removed.
1830-1850
Across much of New England, 60 to 80 percent of the land has been cleared for
pasture, tillage, orchards and buildings. Small remaining areas of woodland are
subjected to frequent cuttings for lumber and fuel.
1831
Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Choctaw ceded 11 million acres in Mississippi in
exchange for 15 million acres in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).
1831
Timber Trespass Act establishes triple stumpage as the fine for timber trespass but
rarely enforced on tribal lands or the public domain.
1831
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the Indian tribes are
“domestic dependent nations” and as “wards to a guardian” that the US has “trust
responsibility.”
1832
Congress establishes Commissioner of Indian Affairs in War Dept.
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1832
Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled that the states do not have
jurisdiction over Indian nations. United States comprises three jurisdictional entities,
the federal, the states and Indian tribes.. Indian tribes are “distinct, independent
political communities” with powers of self government that exist by reason of their
original tribal sovereignty. “... the language used in treaties with the Indians should
never be construed to their prejudice.”
1831-39
President Jackson ignores Supreme Court decision. Five Civilized Tribes of the
Southeast, Choctaw (1831); Seminole (1832); Creek (1834); Chickasaw (1837); and
Cherokee (1838-1839 – “Trail of Tears”), relocated to the Indian Territory.
1832
Black Hawk War in Illinois and Wisconsin between combined Sauk and Fox tribes and
the United States.
1833
Potawatomi removal in Illinois and Wisconsin.
1833
Trade begins with Southern Cheyenne and Arapahos on the Arkansas River.
1834
The Trade and Intercourse Act redefines the Indian Territory and Permanent Indian
Frontier. Requires whites obtain a license to travel into Indian lands west of the
Mississippi
1835
Texas declares itself a republic independent from Mexico. The Texas Rangers are
organized to fight the Comanche.
1836
Congress organizes Wisconsin Territory. Menominee sign “Lumberman’s Treaty” to
allow logging on Wisconsin River.
1837
Pine Tree Treaty between U.S. and Chippewa for US to acquire lumbering and
sawmill sites in the Lake Superior Chippewa country. Multiple other “timber”
treaties followed in the Midwest for the Chippewa, Oneida, Stockbridge-Munsee,
Potawatomi, and Winnebago.
1835-38
Second Seminole War; Osceola is captured 1837, dies 1838.
1837-38
Smallpox epidemic among Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes of the upper Missouri
claims 20,000 Natives.
1839
New York succeeds Maine as the largest lumber producer in the United States. Total
national lumber production reaches 1.6 billion board feet.
1840
Sixth census of the US reports 31,650 water-powered sawmills in the US.
1841
Cherokee and Choctaw Nations establish public schools in Indian Territory.
1846
Miami tribe removal in Indiana.
1846
Following Treaty with Britain, Oregon Territory becomes part of the United States
bringing the area and Native inhabitants under U.S. protection.
1846
Creation of Lands Division in Indian Service, which oversees timber activities. Indian
sawmills constructed to provide building materials for Indian reservations.
1846-48
1846-1853
United States and Mexican War.
Epidemics of smallpox and measles devastate Native populations in the PNW.
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1847
Taos Revolt: Pueblos attack Americans.
1847
1847 Cayuse Indian War. Plateau region of eastern Washington.
1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. 335 million acres of Spanish Southwest and its many
Indian tribes become part of the United States (TX, NM, CA).
1848
Gold is discovered in California.
1849
Bureau of Indian Affairs transfers from the War Department to the newly-formed
Department of the Interior.
1850
Lumber shipments from Green Bay, WI exceed 100 MMBF/yr. Timber trespass and
fraud are rampant on MW tribal lands. Indian agents lack legal foundation, authority,
and expertise to regulate the cutting and selling of reservation timber.
1850-60
Cholera epidemic among the Indians of the Great Basin and southern plains.
7 Reservations
1850-1887
1851
The 1851 Indian Appropriations Act formalized the reservation system, allocating
funds to relocate tribes to established reservations.
1851
Treaty of Travers de Sioux. Minnesota creates first Sioux reservations.
1851
First Treaty of Fort Laramie. U.S. enters into agreements with Cheyenne, Sioux,
Arapaho, Crow, Assiniboine, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara.
Gadsden Purchase adds 29 million acres to the “public domain” in AZ and NM.
1853
1853-54
Northern Indian Territory is taken by Kansas-Nebraska Act to become Kansas and
Nebraska Territories and make way for the railroad.
1853-55
Rogue River War in Oregon.
1854
1854-55
Treaty of La Pointe authorized 80-acre allotments on Chippewa Reservations.
Indian Superintendent and WA Governor, Isaac Stevens, “purchases” Indian lands in
Washington Territory negotiating seven treaties in two years.
1855
Treaties with Wyandot, Chippewa, Winnebago, Choctaw, and Chickasaw.
1853-56
United States acquires 174 million acres of Indian lands through 52 treaties.
1856
Water-powered sawmill is constructed at Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota.
1858
George Weyerhaeuser buys first sawmill in Rock Island, Illinois.
1860
Pennsylvania becomes the largest US lumber producing state.
1860
Paiute War (also called the Pyramid Lake War) in Nevada.
1861
Enabling Act for the Kansas Territory contains first clear congressional recognition of
reservations as jurisdictional enclaves within states.
1861-65
1862
The Civil War. As punishment for support of the Confederacy, the Five Civilized
Tribes relinquish the western half of the Indian Territory to 20 tribes from Kansas
and Nebraska.
The Department of Agriculture is established.
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1862
1862-63
1863
1864-65
Homestead Act opens up Indian land in Kansas and Nebraska to white homesteaders,
who are deeded 160-acre plots. By 1934, 1.6 million settler homesteads are granted
on 270 million acres (10% of all US lands).
Santee Dakota uprising in Minnesota and North Dakota.
Mescalero Apaches forced onto Bosque Redondo reservation.
Cheyenne-Arapaho War in Colorado and Kansas.
1864
Navaho removal in Arizona.
1865
Reservation schools establish through US govt grants to Christian organizations.
1866
The Railroad Enabling Act appropriates Indian lands for railroads.
1866-68
War for the Bozeman Trail in Wyoming and Montana, Sioux, Cheyenne, and
Arapahos under Chief Red Cloud. A second Fort Laramie Treaty resolves the conflict
in 1868 and further reduces the size of Indian reservations.
1867
President Grant’s "Great Peace Commission" recommends that the treaty process be
abandoned. The Commission and Nez Perce Indians negotiate the last of 389 treaties
between the federal government and tribes.
1867
United States purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million adding 365 million acres
to the “public domain.”
1867-70
Osage, Shawnee, Pawnee, Delaware, Oto-Missouri resettled in Indian Country.
1868
President Grant's "Peace Policy" lasts until 1874 amidst widespread violation of treaty
rights.
1868
Fort Laramie Treaty creates the Sioux Reservation including the Black Hills.
1868
Indians denied right to vote by passage of the 14th Amendment. Congress decides
that Indians will not be counted as citizens until they pay taxes.
1868-69
Southern Plains War (Sheridan Campaign), involving the Cheyenne, Sioux, Arapahos,
Kiowa, and Comanche.
1869-70
Smallpox epidemic among Canadian Plains Indians including Blackfeet, Piegans, and
Bloods.
1869
Transcontinental railroad is completed.
1869
Brigadier General Ely Parker (Donehogawa), a Seneca, becomes the first Native
Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
1870
Michigan becomes the largest US lumber producing state.
1871
Peshtigo Fire in WI causes the worst fire mortality in US history, killing 1,500 people
and burning over 1.2 million acres of forest.
1871
Gold is discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
1871
Indian Appropriations Act of 1871. Congress decides that United States will make no
more treaties with Indian tribes.
1872
Western Apaches are assigned to reservations in Arizona.
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1873
1872-73
1873
Timber Culture Act. Homesteaders receive additional lands if trees are planted.
Modoc War in California.
US v Cook Supreme Court rules that U.S. owns logs from Indian trust lands. Tribes
and individual Indians have no rights to cut timber on reservation or allotment lands
unless they are clearing the land for agricultural purposes.
1874-75
Red River War - Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne.
1876-77
Great Sioux War - Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahos. Battle of Little Big Horn.
1876
Franklin B. Hough is appointed first federal forestry officer.
1877
Flight of the Nez Perce in the Northwest.
1878
Off-reservation boarding schools permit education away from tribal influences.
1878
Free Timber Act gives right to settlers in western states to cut timber for domestic
and mining uses.
1878
Timber and Stone Act. U.S. sells western timberland for $2.50/acre.
1878
Paiute, Bannock, Sheepherder War in Oregon and Idaho.
1878-79
1879
1879-85
Flight of the Northern Cheyenne on the Plains.
Ute War in Colorado.
"Friends of the Indian" organizations founded (Indian Protection Committee, Indian
Rights Association, Women's National Indian Association, and National Indian
Defense Association).
1879
Bureau of American Ethnology, a branch of the Smithsonian, is founded for
anthropological studies.
1879
Richard Pratt founds the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, with the philosophy of
assimilating Indians into white culture.
1881
Helen Hunt Jackson publishes "Century of Dishonor" citing inequities perpetrated
against the Indians. Congressional investigation leads to the Dawes Act.
1881
Division of Forestry is established in Dept of Agriculture. Hough appointed Chief.
1881
Sitting Bull surrenders at Fort Buford, North Dakota.
1884
Congress acknowledges Eskimo rights to Alaskan territorial lands.
1884
United States Indian Industrial Training School opens in Lawrence, Kansas. In 1887,
the name is changed to Haskell Institute. In 1993, a baccalaureate program is added
and the name is changed to Haskell Indian Nations University.
1885-86
Geronimo leads Apache resistance.
1885
Congress passes the Major Crimes Act extending federal and state jurisdiction over
major crimes to Indians on reservations.
1886
Bernard E. Fernow is the first professional forester as Chief of Div. of Forestry.
1886
United States v. Kagama. Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of the Major
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Crimes Act of 1885 and confirms Congress’ plenary power over Indian affairs.
8 Allotments and Assimilation
1887-1934
1887
General Allotment (Dawes Severalty) Act, launches era of “assimilation” through
break-up of Indian reservations into individual allotments of 40, 80, 160, and 320
acres, to be held in “trust” by the federal government. "Surplus" lands remaining after
tribal members receive allotments (no provision for later generations) are sold to
settlers or otherwise transferred to the government. By 1920, 217,572 allotments,
covering 35,897,069 acres, had been made on 118 reservations. Between 1887 and
1934 Indian lands were reduced from 138 to 48 million acres.
1888
Congress passes law to prevent timber trespass on Indian reservations but law does
not apply to allotments.
1889
Congress passes the “Dead and Down” Act, the first general policy for management
of Indian forest resources. On a case by case basis, Congress legislatively authorizes
harvesting of timber on reservations. From 1889-1896, 59 MMBF of timber is
harvested from Chippewa Reservations in Minnesota.
1889
Two million acres of Indian Territory (Oklahoma) are “bought” from Indians and
given to white settlers for the “Land Run.”
1889
Nine million acres in western Dakotas are “bought” from the Sioux creating several
smaller reservations.
1889
Nelson Act establishes agricultural allotments on the White Earth Reservation in
northwestern Minnesota for Ojibwe bands. Timber lands were to remain communally
owned.
1890
Menominee receive permission from the federal government to harvest green timber
at an annual rate of 20MMBF/year. First annual allowable cut for an Indian reservation
or federal forestland.
1890
Sitting Bull murdered at Standing Rock. Wounded Knee massacre at Pine Ridge.
1890
Michigan sawmill production peaks at 5.5 billion board feet.
1891
General Revision Act authorizes withdrawal of land from the public domain to
establish "forest reserves."
1892
Intercourse Act prohibits the intrusion of non-Indians on Indian lands.
1894
Hinkley, MN. Forest fire burns 160,000 acres, destroys 6 towns, and kills 600 people.
1896
Talton v. Mayes , Supreme Court upholds tribal sovereignty in local affairs, but “all
such rights are subject to the supreme legislative authority of the United States.”
1897
Forest Service Organic Administration Act provides that national forests shall be
established only to improve and protect the forest therein, or for the purpose of
securing favorable conditions of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of
timber for use and necessities of the citizens of the United States In addition, the
Secretary of Agriculture may make rules and establish such service as will assure the
objectives of the Forest Reserves, namely, to regulate their occupancy and use and
preserve the forest thereon from destruction.
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1898
Curtis Act dissolves tribal courts and governments and forces allotments. It required
Indians of abolished nations to submit to allotment, and it extended the policy of
allotment to the Five Civilized Tribes – the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek,
and Seminole.
1898
The Nation’s first 4-year professional forestry curriculum is established at Cornell
University. The Biltmore Forest School opens the same year. Yale follows in 1900 and
adds a graduate curriculum. Within ten years a dozen forestry schools open at state
universities around the nation.
1900
The population of Native Americans drops to its low point at 235,000.
1900
The Society of American Forests is founded as a professional organization of
technically trained foresters.
1901
Congress authorizes the sale of timber from allotted lands on the Grand Portage
Indian Reservation. Similar acts are passed in rapid succession for other Indian lands.
The next year an act of Congress specifies that 5 percent of the timber on the
Chippewa Indian Reservation be left standing for forest renewal purposes, and that
cutting be restricted to pine.
1902
Yacolt Fire in WA and OR destroys 1 million acres and leaves 38 dead.
1902
Cherokee Nation v. Hitchcock, the Supreme Court held the United States has the
power to overrule Cherokee laws.
1902
Morris Act stipulates price and sale arrangements for pine logs from ceded Chippewa
lands. Timber and lands are sold separately.
1902
Congress declares Chippewa “surplus” lands as Minnesota Forest Reserve, later
renames Chippewa National Forest.
1903
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, the Supreme Court establishes Congress' power to unilaterally
break treaties. Tribal lands, a taken as “surplus” under the Dawes Act, can be sold
without regard to treaty guarantees.
1904
Steenerson Act authorizes allotment of timberlands on the White Earth reservation.
1904
Clapp Act authorizes sale of timber from Chippewa Indian Allotments.
1905
United States v Winans, The treaty is not a grant of rights to the Indians, but a grant of
rights from them with reservation of rights not granted such as fishing.
1905
The Forest Service is created in the Dept of Agriculture. Gifford Pinchot, appointed
the first Chief, serves until 1910.
1905
Washington becomes the largest lumber producing state in the US.
1906
Indian Appropriation Act. Secretary of Interior may determine “competency” of
Chippewa allotments owners such that title transfer may be expedited, taxes levied,
and land and timber sold.
1906
Alaska Native Allotment Act. Congress creates procedures whereby individual Alaska
Natives could acquire land. The act specifically provides that land acquired would be
held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the individual Native owner. The
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Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) repealed this act.
1906
Antiquities Act. Presidential protections for Indian ruins and other special places.
Authorizes the President to designate national monuments to protect historic and
prehistoric structures and other objects of historic or scientific interest.
1906
Burke Act grants the Commissioner of Indian Affairs the power to abruptly end the
trust status of allotted Indian lands (as created by Dawes Act) making the lands
subject to state taxes and potential forfeiture for non-payment. Many allotments are
taken out of trust without the knowledge of the allottee.
1908
Winters v. United States, Supreme Court finds that water rights were reserved for
tribes as an implication of the treaties that created the reservations. The “Winters
Doctrine” establishes the canons of construction in which any ambiguity in treaties is
to be resolved in the tribes favor.
1908
Menominee Sawmill is constructed at Neopit, Wisconsin.
1908
Depts of Interior and Agriculture enter into short-lived agreement for the Forest
Service to Management Indian forests.
1908
The Forest Fires Emergency Act authorizes the Forest Service to spend whatever
necessary (subject to supplemental appropriations) to combat forest fires.
1909
Teddy Roosevelt issues executive orders transferring 2.5 million acres of timbered
Indian reservation lands to national forests.
1909
Indian Appropriations Act provides first appropriation for Indian forestry of $100,000.
1910
The use of executive order to create Indian reservations is terminated by statute.
1910
General Indian Timber Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Forestry
and authorizes the sale of timber. J.P. Kenny becomes the first Chief in 1914 and
serves until 1933.
1910
Allotment Act of 1910 provides for allotting lands to Indians found to be occupying,
living on, or having improvements on lands that had become National Forest lands.
Allows sale of timber on allotments.
1910
Great Fire of 1910 (WA, ID, and MT) burns 3 million acres and kills 87 people and
sets the stage for federal policies advocating total fire suppression.
1910
US lumber production peaks at 44.5 BBF
1911
Office of Indian Affairs, Regulations and Instructions for Officers in Charge of Forests
on Indian Reservations begins America’s war on fire. “It shall be the duty of the Indian
police to prevent and suppress forest and grass fires as far as possible, and failure on
their part to perform such duties, or to report promptly any fire which they cannot
control, will constitute sufficient cause for dismissal.”
1911
The Weeks Act Authorizes and directs the Secretary of Agriculture to acquire
forested, cutover, and denuded lands within watersheds of navigable streams
necessary to the regulation of the flow of navigable streams or for timber production.
Under the act, such lands are to be permanently reserved, held, and administered as
national forests. The Weeks Act enlists states into a cooperative federal-state effort
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to extinguish all federal forest fires. In 1922, Congress extends these protections to
all public lands and Indian reservations.
1914-18
World War I. 12,000 Native Americans join the armed forces.
1920
The Pacific Northwest produces 30% of US lumber.
1921
The Snyder Act makes the Interior Department responsible for Indian education,
medical, and social services.
1924
Clark-McNary Act amends the Weeks Act to authorize purchase of lands for timber
production as well as stream flow protection. Directs the Sec of Agriculture to work
with fed agencies, states, and private companies on fire control and reforestation.
1924
Indian Citizenship Act formally conveys citizenship and voting rights to Indians,
regardless of their land tenure or place of residence. Up until this time, the U.S.
Constitution did not apply to individual Indians. States are slow to acknowledge: Utah,
last to enfranchise Indians, did not grant voting rights until 1956.
1924
Pueblo Lands Board Act allows non-Indians to validate title to previously acquired
Pueblo lands.
1926
“10-Acre Policy” mandates suppressing all fires before they reach 10 acres in size.
1928
The Problem of Indian Administration (The Meriam Report). The first comprehensive
study of Indians reports chronic poverty as a result of the failed federal Indian policies
of allotments and assimilation. The allotment act is found especially ill suited for
forestry. Encourages tribal self-determination.
1930’s
The Great Depression brings hardship to many American families, resulting in the
election of President Roosevelt in 1932 and the beginning of the New Deal.
1932
John Collier is appointed Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
1933
The Copeland Report, an extensive examination of U.S. forests prepared by the
Forest Service, recommends significant expansion of public ownership and more
intensive management on all forestlands.
9 Reorganization
1934-1950
1933-42
Civilian Conservation Corps Indian Division (CCC-ID) creates conservation jobs for
77,000 Indian men on 78 reservations in 23 states. Also known as the Indian New
Deal. Projects include reservation improvements such as construction of water
systems, bridges, and roads and also include the first improvement significant
investments by the U.S. government in improvements for Indian forests through tree
planting, thinning, and forest health treatments. CCC-ID enrollees fight fires beginning
a continuing history of Indian fire response teams.
1934
Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler-Howard Act or IRA). Gives Indian Tribes option
to organize as political and economic units, repealed the Allotment Act, establishes
federal commitment to acquire lands for return to Indian Tribes, requires sustained
yield management of Indian forestlands, institutes Indian preference hiring, establishes
a revolving fund for econ dev., and extends the trust period for allotments
indefinitely.
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1934
Johnson-O’Malley Act. Congress provides funds to integrate Indian education into
state school systems.
1935
The “10 a.m. Policy” is implemented, requiring all wild fires to be extinguished before
10 a.m. the morning following their first report.
1936
Interior Department General Forest Regulations calls for development of forest plans
to support sustained yield management, raises number of seed trees to 25% of the
stand, ends clear-cutting of aspen but funding is inadequate for planning.
1937
Shoshone Tribe v U.S. U.S. cannot take Indian land without just compensation.
1938
Oregon becomes the largest lumber producing state in the US.
1939-45
World War II – 44,000 Native Americans join the armed forces.
1942
Seminole Nation v U.S. U.S. has charged itself with moral obligations to tribes of highest
responsibility and trust.
1944
The Sustained Yield Forest Management Act (SYFMA) Provides authority to the
Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior to establish cooperative
sustained yield units with private and other Federal agencies in order to provide for a
continuous and ample supply of forest products and to secure the benefits of the
forest in maintenance of water supply, regulation of stream flow, prevention of soil
erosion, amelioration of climate, and preservation of wildlife. Under Section 7, trust
or restricted Indian land, whether tribal or allotted, could be included in such a unit
with the consent of the Indians concerned.
1944
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is founded.
1944
Smokey the Bear becomes U.S. public relations symbol in the war against wildfire.
1946
Indian Claims Commission Act is established to hear legal claims of Indian tribes
against the U.S. The three-person board could only give money for land; it could not
take back lands that were illegally settled by white settlers and now owned by their
descendants. By the time of the Commission's final report in 1974, it had awarded
$818,172,606.64 in judgments and had completed 546 dockets.
1946
The Bureau of Land Management is created in the Department of Interior.
1948
Mescalero Apache Red Hats organize as one of the first Indian fire fighting crews.
Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo, Zuni also establish fire fighting crews.
1949
Hoover Commission recommends that assimilation be reinstated as the dominant
objective of Indian policy.
10 Termination
1950-1970
1950
Menominee Tribe of Indians v U.S. Supreme Court awards Menominee damages for
mismanagement of tribal timberlands by BIA.
1951
2,000 fire warriors organize as the Southwest Indian Forest Firefighters (SWIFF),
1953-1970
Direct Employment Program - “relocation centers” in Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Denver, Minneapolis, and Chicago drew more than 90,000 American Indians away
from their reservations.
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1953-68
Termination. House Concurrent Resolution no. 108, United States ends federal
recognition of 109 tribes and rancherias reducing tribal land holdings by 2.5 million
acres. Menominee and Klamath, which won lawsuits against the U.S., are targeted for
termination. Public Law 280, United States, gives California, Oregon, Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Nebraska civil and criminal jurisdiction over most Indian lands within their
borders. Begins decades long efforts to achieve restoration.
1954
Apache Red Hats receive Interior Department’s top honor for meritorious service.
1955
Tee-Hit-Ton Indians v. United States Tribal right of occupancy can be terminated.
1955
1,200 Indian firefighters from seven reservations in Montana and Idaho organize as
the Montana Indian Firefighters (MIF).
1959
Williams v. Lee, the Supreme Court rules that a tribal court has jurisdiction over a
contract entered into by a non-Indian with reservation Indians.
1960
Multiple-Use Sustained-Yield Act. Forest Service to sustainably manage for multiple
resources: timber, range, water, recreation, and wildlife. It authorizes and directs the
Secretary of Agriculture to develop and administer the renewable resources for
multiple use and sustained yield of the several services and products obtained
therefrom. It authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to cooperate with interested
State and local governmental agencies and others in the development and
management of the national forests.
1961
Winema Nat’l Forest is created from terminated Klamath tribal lands in Oregon.
1962
President Kennedy signs the last termination order for the Ponca Tribe.
1963
Following publication of the “Leopold Report,” which recognized fire’s beneficial role,
the NPS allows forest fires to burn if they promote wildlife and vegetation.
1964
Indian Timber Sales Act. Timber on reservations and other land held in trust may be
sold in accordance with principles of sustained yield management.
1964
Wilderness Act creates wilderness system of lands “untrammelled by man.” Today
there are 107.5 million acres of land designated as federal wilderness. Curbs fire
suppression in wilderness areas.
1965
Boise Interagency Fire Center is established later to become National Interagency
Fire Center (NIFC)
1966
National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) states, “the historical and cultural
foundations of the Nation should be preserved as a living part of our community life
and development in order to give a sense of orientation to the American people.”
1968
American Indian Movement (AIM) is founded in Minneapolis.
1968
Indian Civil Rights Act extends most of the protections of the Bill of Rights to
individual tribal members.
1968
Navajo Community College (later renamed Diné College) is established as the first
tribal college to be created on an American Indian reservation. Today there are 37
Indian Colleges and Universities throughout the United States.
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1968
President Johnson speaks of the “Forgotten American” in special message to
Congress and calls for “…new emphasis on Indian self-help and with respect for
Indian culture.”
1969
US v Oregon acknowledges the rights of several tribes to fish in the Columbia River
with minimal regulation by state or federal government.
1969
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) establishes procedural requirements for
environmental assessments by government agencies and requires agencies to invite
Indian tribes to participate in the scoping process on projects and activities that affect
them. Tribes with treaty rights on National Forest System lands may also meet with
line officers in advance of the formal planning processes about their reserved rights.
NEPA assessments are also required of BIA and tribes. Creates Council on
Environmental Quality.
11
Self-Determination
1970-1990
1970
Nixon delivers special message to Congress, “The time has come to break decisively
with the past and to create the conditions for a new era in which the Indian future is
determined by Indian acts and Indian decisions.”
1970
Choctaw Nation v Oklahoma. “Treaties with the Indians must be interpreted as they
would have understood them... and any doubtful expressions in them should be
resolved in the Indians’ favor.””
1971
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) extinguishes Native claim to title to
lands in Alaska, as well as hunting and fishing rights. Transfers 44 million acres to
Alaska Native Corporations and bridges the last hurdle to the construction of the
Alaska Pipeline.
1973
Menominee Restoration Act (P.L. 93-197), United States; repealed the 1954 act
terminating the tribal status of the Menominee. In effect, this nullified the 1953 federal
policy promoting termination of Indian status.
1973
Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires protection of threatened or endangered plant
and animal species and their habitats and extends to Indian reservations.
1973
American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) forms to provide support for
tribal colleges and Indian education.
1974
Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) requires periodic
forest plans and resource assessments by the Forest Service. It also specifies
procedures to insure that such plans are in accordance with NEPA requirements.
1974
US v WA (Boldt Decision) Supreme Court upholds WA tribes right to " take fish, at
all usual and accustomed grounds and stations."
1974
The Indian Financing Act of 1974 establishes an Indian Business Development
program in the Department of the Interior.
1975
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (PL93-638) authorizes
Secretaries of Interior, Health, Education, and Welfare to enter service delivery
contracts with federally recognized Indian tribes. The act formally recognizes the U.S.
obligation to provide education and services to Indian communities.
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1976
Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA). Bureau of Land Management
(BLM) organic act. Remaining public lands to be retained in federal ownership. Directs
the Secretary of Agriculture to coordinate National Forest System land use plans with
the land use planning and management programs of and for Indian tribes by
considering the policies of approved tribal land resource management programs.
1976
National Forest Management Act (NFMA) is the primary statute governing Forest
Service. Directs consultation and coordination of National Forest System planning
with Indian tribes.
1976
Intertribal Timber Council (ITC) is formed as a nonprofit nation-wide consortium of
Indian Tribes, Alaska Native Corporations, and individuals dedicated to improving the
management of natural resources of importance to Native American communities.
1977
American Indian Policy Review Commission (AIPRC) Report to Congress is the first
comprehensive analysis of Indian policy since 1928. AIPRC recommends strengthening
tribal governments, affirming the trust relationship between tribes and the federal
government, acknowledging the importance of tribal lands and forests, and
reorganizing the BIA. “The overwhelming conviction of Indian people is that tribal
land base is essential. The need to develop a comprehensive forestry management
program for Indian country is obvious. “
1977
American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is established to increase
American Indian and Alaska Native representation in science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics.
1977
Assist Secretary for Indian Affairs position is established in Dept. of Interior.
1977
USFS drops the “10 am” and “10 acre” fire policies.
1978
Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, Supreme Court rules tribes do not have jurisdiction
over non-Indians residing on Indian reservations. Indian treaties “cannot be
interpreted in isolation but must be read in light of the common notions of the day
and the assumptions of those who drafted them.”
1978
Indian Child Welfare Act, United States, protects Indian tribes' interest in retaining
custody of their children.
1978
Tribally Controlled Community College Assistance Act provides construction,
technical assistance, and endowment building funds.
1978
American Indian Freedom of Religion Act (P.L. 95-341)
1978
Cooperative Forestry Assistance Act authorizes Sec. of Agriculture to provide tech
assistance to Indian forestry.
1979
Washington v Washington State Commercial Passenger Fishing Vessel Association Indians
are entitled to 50% of the harvestable fish passing through their recognized tribal
fishing grounds. Treaty words must be construed “in the sense in which they would
naturally be understood by Indians.”
1980
Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act grants subsistence rights to Alaska
Natives.
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1980
U.S. v Sioux Nation of Indians Supreme Court rules that taking of property that was set
aside for the use of the tribe required just compensation, including interest. The
Sioux have declined to accept the money because acceptance would legally terminate
Sioux demands for return of the Black Hills.
1980
Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act establishes an $81 million land acquisition fund on
behalf of Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians,
and Aroostook Band of Micmacs. Between 1978-2006, 14 Indian land claims are
settled providing involved tribes nearly $500 million.
1983
New Mexico v Mescalero Apache Tribe, the U.S. Supreme Court upholds the tribe’s
exclusive right to regulate non-Indian hunting and fishing on a reservation.
1983
Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Chippewa Indians v. WI, Chippewa rights are upheld to
subsistence activities in territories ceded by treaties stipulating these rights.
1983
Mitchell v U.S. (Mitchell II) Supreme Court hold that statutes and regulations pertaining
to timber management by the BIA create a judicially enforceable trust responsibility
extending to allotment owners.
1984
Presidential Commission on Indian Reservation Economies recommends abolition of
BIA and replacement with Indian Trust Services Administration.
1987
S. Con. Res. 76. acknowledges the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy of
Nations to the development of the U. S. Constitution and reaffirms the continuing
government-to-government relationship between Indian tribes and the United States
as established in the Constitution.
1988
Yellowstone Park Fires burn 800,000 acres and call into question US fire policy.
12 Transformation
1990 -
1990
National Indian Forest Resources Management Act. “Organic Act” of Indian Forestry
(0rganic act of Indian forestry) addresses forest management, funding, staffing, timber
trespass, forestry education, and other aspects of forestry trust responsibility.
Provides periodic Indian Forest Management Assessments.
1990
Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act (Public Law 101-601)
1990
Northern Spotted Owl listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
1993
Mexican Spotted Owl listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
1994
Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act establishes Office of the Special Trustee
for American Indians (OST) in Department of Interior. Requires accounting for funds
held in trust by the U.S. for Indians and Indian Tribes.
1994
President Clinton Northwest Forest Plan limits timber harvest in Pacific Northwest
federal forests in favor of “old growth” protections. Losses to timber processing
infrastructure result in market value reductions for tribal timber.
1994
Indian Self-Determination Contract Reform Act and the Self-Governance Permanent
Authorization Act are passed to improve and perpetuate the government-togovernment relationship between Indian tribes and the U.S. and to strengthen tribal
control over federal funds and program management.
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1995
Federal Wildland Fire Management Report recognizes wildland fire as a critical natural
process, while acknowledging the need to reduce hazardous fuels, and promoting
agency and intergovernmental cooperation.
1997
SO 3206: Tribal Rights, Trust Responsibilities and the Endangered Species Act. DOI
guidance about the federal-tribal relationship and the ESA. As harvest activities reduce
habitats on private forests, tribes inherit legal costs of ESA.
1999
Minnesota et. al. v. Mille Lacs Band of Chippewa Indians et. al. United States Supreme
Court narrowly upholds off-reservation treaty rights for Minnesota Chippewa Indians.
2000
US Native American population reaches 2.5 million.
2000
Executive Order on Tribal Consultation. President Clinton directs executive
departments and agencies to engage in regular and meaningful consultation and
collaboration with tribal officials.
2000
Assistant Secretary of Interior – Indian Affairs, Glover, apologizes to Native
Americans for BIA history of abuse. 175 anniversary of the oldest federal agency.
2000
Cerro Grande Fire. Park Service-initiated controlled burn at Bandelier National
Monument in New Mexico gets away and burns 40,000 acres destroys 240 Los
Alamos homes and nearly incinerates the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
2001
At the request of the President, the Secretaries of Interior and Agriculture to develop
a National Fire Plan.
2002
Rodeo-Chediski (Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, AZ) forest fire burns 460,000
acres (including 200,000 acres of White Mountain Apache forestlands) and 400
homes. Hayman Fire (Pike National Forest, CO) burns 140,000 acres and 600
structures. Biscuit Fire (Siskiyou National Forest, OR) burns 500,000 acres. The 2002
fire season is the worst in modern US history with costs exceeding $2 billion in
federal suppression funds.
2002
Hayman forest fire burns 138,000 acres and destroyed 133 homes. It is the biggest
fire in Colorado history.
2002
Wildland Fire Leadership Council forms to address increasing intensity, incidence and
costs of forest fires in the United States.
2003
Healthy Forests Restoration Act launches national program to thin overstocked
forests and clear away vegetation and trees to reduce wildfire hazard.
2004
President Bush Memorandum directs federal agencies to engage in government-togovernment relationships with tribes.
2004
Tribal Forest Protection Act (TFPA) authorizes Depts of Interior and Agriculture to
award stewardship contracts to Indian tribes for forest health treatments and fuels
reductions on federal forests adjacent to Indian reservations.
2007
Salish Kootenai College graduates the first class from the only baccalaureate degree
program in forestry at an Indian College.
2009
Federal Land Assistance, Management, and Enhancement Act (FLAME) creates a fund
for national fire fighting costs that exceed annual agency appropriations and requires
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creation of a cohesive wildland fire management strategy.
2009
Cobell v Salazar Class-Action Law suit over Individual Indian Money Accounts (IIM),
begun in 1996 by Elouise Cobell, is the largest lawsuit ever filed against the federal
government. $3.4 billion settlement includes $1.55 billion for tribal purchase of
fractionated allotted lands.
2009
Executive Order on Tribal Consultation. President Obama directs executive
departments and agencies to engage in regular and meaningful consultation and
collaboration with tribal officials.
2009
The Secretary of the Interior establishes the Commission on Indian Trust
Administration and Reform to review the Department’s provision of services to trust
beneficiaries.
2010
Indian Forestry Centennial
2010
US Census estimates total population of 309 million people of which 5.2 million
people (1.7% of US citizens) report American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry. 78%
of Native Americans live outside a reservation.
2011
National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy, required by FLAME Act,
establishes collaborative approach for assessing fire risk and tradeoff analysis.
2011
Wallow Fire replaces Rodeo-Chediski as the largest fire in Arizona history. Wallow
burns 540,000 acres and costs $109 million.
2012
Whitewater-Baldy Fire burns 300,000 acres, mostly in Gila Wilderness. It is the
biggest forest fire in New Mexico history. 2012 US fires burn 9 million acres.
2013
Third Indian Forest Management Assessment Team Report (IFMAT III)
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Trail Trees
For thousands of years extensive trade networks linked diverse tribes all over North America. When trails passed
through forests the people would bend young trees to create permanent trail markers, designating safe paths through
rough country and pointing travelers toward water, food or other important landmarks. One by one over time these
old trees are disappearing but as evidence of the extent of pre-contact trail networks, Mountain Stewards, a nonprofit
organization based in Georgia, have counted 1,970 remaining marker trees in 40 states.
Trail Tree. Chattahoochee, GA. (Mountain Stewards)
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